We are Adrian and Nicole Doyle and this is our web site where we show our life on our small holding and showcase the products that we sell.
We are delighted to offer a range of handmade felted fleece rugs, also known as “sheep-friendly sheepskin rugs” and “vegetarian sheepskin rugs”. We also offer handmade felted fleece cushions. These are made from the wool (not the sheepskin) from a both our own sheep and those of neighbouring farms. No animal is harmed in the process. You can buy them from our shop. Please note, due to recent popularity of the rugs, we have struggled to keep up with demand so, if you find the shop empty, just read the shop updates to find out when new rugs will be added.
We also have copies of Adrian’s books “This Smallholding Life” (about the balance between time, money and work on a modern smallholding ) and “Dogs Talk” (dogs talk about their lives and what made things better for them) available in our shop (paperback – UK only) or via Amazon (paperback and ebook).
Winter on the smallholding is all about keeping our woolly friends fed, watered and mucked out. The beginning of November marks the start of the “big hay ceremony”. This means that every morning and evening we fill the feeders up with fresh hay while the sheep mill around “helping” – which roughly translates to them […]
As they days shorten and the night draws in, the autumn harvest is coming to a close. The onions are all tied up in onion strings. We had a much better crop this year, netting them off helped stop the birds digging them up. As ever, those grown from seed soon caught up with the […]
After eight months of writing, re-writing, editing, re-reading and proof checking, I am pleased to say I have finally published my second book “Dogs Talk – Four Dogs Tell Their Stories”. The original idea actually came from a journal kept a few years ago by a dog called Kika. Kika came to stay with us […]
As autumn turns into winter and the harvest is complete, our focus turns to winter jobs. These are mostly maintenance to the walls and fences. There are a number of gaps where previous owners have taken down stone dykes for one reason or another and they look kind of wrong, for want of a better […]
We have two dogs here, George and Haribo and both have a number of pet names. For example, George is often called “G” and Haribo “H”. Haribo also gets called “Bot”. This is a shortened version of “Haribot” which was spawned during the period Britain had the “maybot” as prime minister. Anyway, recently, Haribo(t) has […]
From time to time I am asked if I run courses on making felted fleece rugs. Last year I pondered hosting courses here on our smallholding. The trouble is, I wasn’t sure how I would best be able do this because the method I use to make these rugs is quite time consuming. Each rug […]
Two weeks ago our dear brave hennie Bim, passed away to the Great Hen Run in the Sky. Bim was a remarkable hen, she lived a whole year and a half longer than predicted since developing a serious condition called “egg yolk peritonitis”. Basically this meant that every time Bim laid an egg, the yolk […]
As anyone who has read my book might now realise, it’s hard keeping up with everything on a smallholding. This is particularly true as we both have to work to pay the bills. A while back, I mentioned this loss of control of some of the veggie patches in a blog entry – Taking back […]
If you are squeamish or having dinner, this story may not be for you😳 As some of you may already know from following our stories, one of our woolly girls, Vera, has been plagued by “the itchies” all summer. She has developed photosensitisation due to (most likely) eating a plant containing an alkaloid which then […]
As lots of you know who visit our page, I take on commissions as well as selling things from our shop. I’m mainly asked to make rugs for people but sometimes I get more unusual requests, for example, recently a lady with her own flock of sheep asked me to make some cushions from her […]
Four weeks ago, we found a tiny hedgehog that was outside, alone, during the day. Without help, it would have died (see Summer Hedgehog Rescue). We took him in and named him Tiggy. Over the last four weeks, he has grown from 125g to over 470g in weight. As it’s summer, young hedgehogs can be […]
Sheep need a lot of looking after and one of the primary tasks is checking hooves and bottoms. Much like human fingernails and toenails, sheep’s hooves can grow and become uncomfortable. If not trimmed, infection can get in. Dirty bottoms are a magnet for flies and the last thing you want is the blowfly laying […]
Thank you for my beautiful rug, I am absolutely delighted with it!! It goes perfectly in my room and is so lovely and soft…
Review for Felted Cheviot fleece rug
5/5
Gorgeous
Posted by Lucy Swallow on 16th September 2020
Thank you so much for the rug, it’s absolutely gorgeous!
Review for Felted fleece \"sheepskin\" rug - Cheviot hog fleece
5/5
A work of art!
Posted by Kacie on 6th August 2020
This is the highest quality sheepskin I’ve ever seen. It’s a work of art, and we’re proud to have it in our home. I’m overjoyed to have finally found a beautiful cruelty-free option. Big thanks to you and the sheep, who are very cute.
Review for Felted fleece "sheepskin" rug
5/5
Beautiful
Posted by Annette Young on 17th July 2020
Bought for my vegetarian daughter’s birthday. It’s just beautiful. Much lighter weight than a skin so when the box arrived we thought it must be tiny. It was delightful opening up the packaging for the big reveal. You could tell a lot of care had been taken parcelling it up so it up.
Review for Handmade Felted Fleece Rug
5/5
Nicole's Rug in Luxembourg 🙂
Posted by Burban on 8th July 2020
I was looking for an ethical “sheep skin” rug and happily found Nicole and Adrian’s website. Nicole chose for us a beautiful fleece from her sheep which went into the production of our first rug. My family loves it, including the little touches that came with our package too. Nicole and Adrian are wonderful and they put love and care into everything they do. Thank you for this very special rug, we will cherish for many years to come!
